Weather Forecast

13-year-old Wisconsin girl missing since October found alive near Duluth

GORDON, Wis. — A 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who had been missing since October has been found alive in rural Douglas County, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Jan. 10, authorities said.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Jayme Closs was found in the Town of Gordon at 4:43 p.m. and a suspect was taken into custody there just minutes later, at 4:54.

“We do not (have) any other details at this time as this is a very fluid and active investigation,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald posted on Facebook. Officials did not provide any other information on the case Thursday night. A news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday in Barron.

Jayme went missing on Oct. 15, when her parents, James and Denise Closs, were both found shot to death in their rural home.

Barron County Sheriff Department deputies arrived at the Closs home within 4 minutes of a 911 call but found no suspects or gun at the scene and no sign of Jayme. Investigators could hear yelling in the background of a recorded 911 call from that house, but nobody conversed with dispatchers.

Within three days after Jayme went missing more than 400 tips were received, but none at that time led to her location and no viable suspects were identified.

Two months after Jayme had been missing, Fitzgerald said the lack of evidence seemed to suggest that the killer or killers didn’t get far in the home as investigators had not recovered any DNA evidence or fingerprints, nor did they find shoe prints inside the home.

A 911 call apparently led to authorities to Jayme.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office posted on their Facebook page late Thursday thanking “the citizen who phoned in the information.”

"We want to thank the Douglas Co Sheriff’s Department and agencies assisting them tonight,” Fitzgerald said Thursday. “We also want to thank all the Law Enforcement agencies across the state and county that have assisted us in this case. We also could not have endured this case without the support of the public and I want to thank them for all the support and help.

"This case has been very trying on the family so please respect their privacy (as) we reunite them later tonight," Fitzgerald said.

The Forum Communications News Service is the premier news wire service covering the Upper Midwest, including the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to breaking and enterprise news, we offer a wide variety of sports, features, business, agriculture, outdoors and opinion content. For more information about the services we offer or to discuss content subscriptions, please contact us.